blue artichoke

One of my new year's projects is to cull my recipe collection, which means testing all my recipes and discarding those that I won't make again, because they don't meet my standards or aren't worth the effort. I've sort of been doing this all along; I rarely make a recipe twice because I have so many untested recipes to try and I'd rather try something new. I'm the same way with books and movies. I rarely reread a book or watch movies multiple times if I have other options. There are so many movies I want to see and books I 'd like to read that revisiting one seems like a waste of time. Same with recipes. But one day, I'll have a collection of recipes I've tried and that have proven themselves worthy of repetition.

Here's another cookie recipe that will remain in the collection. It is an unusual cookie and takes more time than most, but looks really good and tastes good too:

Caramel Chocolate Thumbprints

2/3 c. sugar
½ c. butter*, softened
1 egg, separated
2 T. milk
1 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
¼ t. salt
2/3 c. chopped pecans
16 caramels, unwrapped
1 T. water
½ c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 small zipper closure food storage bag

In med bowl, beat sugar and butter. Beat in egg yolk, milk and vanilla until well combined. Combine flour, cocoa and salt; blend into butter mixture. Divide dough in half. Place each portion of dough on sheet of plastic wrap; shape into a 1x8” log. Beat egg white until frothy. Brush each log with egg white; roll in pecans to coat evenly. Refrigerate, covered, until firm enough to slice (~1h).

Heat oven to 350. Slice each log into 16 (1/2”) slices. Arrange slices on ungreased baking sheet about 2” apart. Bake until set (10-12m). While cookies are baking, place caramels and water in microwavable bowl. Zap (HIGH) until caramels are melted (1m). Stir until completely melted. After removing cookies from oven, immediately press center of each cookie with thumb to make indentation. Immediately spoon ½ t. caramel in center of each cookie. Carefully remove to wire rack to cool completely. When cookies are cooled, pour ½ c. chocolate chips into food bag; seal. Submerge bag into very hot water until chips are melted. Cut a tiny hole in corner of bag; drizzle melted chocolate evenly over cookies. Store in airtight container. These cookies do not freeze well.

Makes 32 cookies.